Omnipresent iPods: Classroom distraction?

Taking a step that professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to students. While schools emphasize its usefulness — online research in class and instant polling of students, for example — a big part of the attraction is, undoubtedly, that the iPhone is cool and a hit with students. The losers, some fear, could be professors. They practically beg a user to ignore the long-suffering professor struggling to pass on accumulated wisdom from the front of the room.